We need to be perfect
Klopp warns Anfield stars ahead of battle with Atletico streetfighters
THE message from Jurgen Klopp was clear. For a team that has negotiated the domestic season in a near-faultless manner, there is a new requirement — perfect football.
This is the point of the tournament when the Champions League is at its most unforgiving, the stage where even a substandard 15 minutes can lead to elimination. Klopp is well aware of the tightrope upon which Liverpool will teeter against Atletico Madrid.
They may only trail 1-0 from the first leg but scoring twice against Diego Simeone’s streetfighters while preserving a clean sheet is easier said than done. It will take more than Anfield’s expectant crowd whipping up a tempest to unsettle Atletico.
‘We need to be nearly perfect,’ said Klopp, who must decide whether to start fit-again captain Jordan Henderson or deploy him from the bench. ‘That is how it is. We have to attack. We have to create. We have to protect like never before in our life and we have to interact and we need Anfield.
‘That is the truth. But it is always like this. I only say we should give it a proper try. That is all I want and then we accept what happens. If Atletico go through, congratulations. If not, we will deserve it. We need a result, so we cannot worry about the situation. We have to have a fantastic night.’
Klopp does have history to draw upon. In December 2018, when the spectre of elimination loomed in the last match of the group stage, Liverpool ground out a 1-0 win against Napoli. Six months later, they lifted the trophy in Atletico’s stadium.
You sensed from listening to Klopp that he has used every minute since Saul Niguez’s solitary strike on February 18 to prepare for the roadblock that is coming and work out how to weave a way around it.
‘It is like every game we have played since Atletico is a buildup for now,’ said Klopp, who is protecting a record of having won each of the ten knockout ties he has overseen in Europe with Liverpool.
‘Napoli last season was the most difficult challenge I have ever faced in my life. An Italian team and you need to win 1-0? How is that possible? We did it. I do not say we will do it again but I do know we will give it a real try.’
Liverpool have held meetings about the potential for Simeone’s men to time waste from an early stage and indulge in histrionics that are aimed to frustrate.
‘We have experience of coming up against them now,’ said Scotland left-back Andy Robertson, who is fit after sitting out the weekend victory over Bournemouth.
‘We’ve had that one game and, to be honest, over there I felt we dealt with it pretty well. It is frustrating at times but it is not going to change.
‘We don’t have control of that. It is up to the referee to deal with it if it is getting too much. We need to be focused on our game and we can’t get annoyed at things we can’t control.
‘We need to stay clear and calm in our heads and, if we do that, it gives us the best possible chance to perform.
‘What we went through over there has helped us to experience that and hopefully know how to deal with it. Hopefully we can show that and stay calm and create the chances we need to create.
‘We need a complete Liverpool performance.’